The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a consulting engineer and a contractor over a negligence claim arising from cracks in two houses at Sycamore Court, Corrolough, Williamstown, Co Galway. The Court held that the claim’s six-year limitation period began when the physical damage became manifest in December 2005, rather than when the foundations were laid or certified.
The houses were built on a shared foundation. The plaintiffs, developer Liam Brandley and WJB Developments Ltd, alleged that inadequate, compressible stone had been used in the foundations and that cracks appeared in December 2005. The contractor, John Lohan, laid the foundations in March 2004. Engineer Hubert Deane issued a certificate of compliance on 4 September 2004.
The plaintiffs issued proceedings on 30 November 2010. Their contract claim was acknowledged to be out of time, leaving the negligence claim as the issue in dispute. The defendants admitted negligence and relied on the limitation defence.
The High Court dismissed the claim after concluding that existing law did not allow a discoverability test. It made no findings on when the damage occurred or became manifest. The Court of Appeal allowed the plaintiffs’ appeal, finding that the defective foundations were not themselves actionable damage and that damage occurred when cracks appeared in December 2005.
On further appeal, the Supreme Court clarified that, for property damage claims in negligence, time runs from when the damage is manifest—meaning when it is capable of being discovered and proved. It rejected the defendants’ argument that the defective foundations themselves started the limitation period. A defect is distinct from the later physical damage it causes; here, the Court found, the cracks were that damage.
The Court also made clear that neither the date of the wrongful act, the date damage could reasonably have been discovered, nor the date it was actually discovered is the applicable starting point under the law considered in this case. It noted that Irish law had no statutory discoverability rule for this type of property damage claim, and said changing that position was a matter for the legislature.
The Supreme Court relied on the uncontroverted evidence that the cracks appeared in December 2005. It found that damage occurred and became manifest at about the same time, within six years before the summons was issued. It dismissed the appeal. The ruling resolved the limitation issue; it did not assess damages.